NSW Guild Show starts June 20

Hi Everyone,

A couple of us are going to help at the judging for the NSW Guild Show this weekend. The organisation for the judging of over 400 quilts must be amazing. I am excited to see it in action. I will be in the kitchen to provide the judges with tea and coffee and then lunch.

Meg spoke to us about the opening night for our show. Everyone is encouraged to bring along a friend or two or three to help us celebrate our special gala evening. Suzie and her group will be on the stage selling all the wonderful goodies many of the girls have been making. I will be swooping in to buy some that I have seen in progress. They are all fantastic and would make lovely gifts if you don't end up keeping them all for yourself.

Iris told us that she had received a letter from the Grace Centre at the Westmead Children's Hospital. It was so nice to hear how much our baby quilts that we make for them are enjoyed and appreciated. Last Mothers Day, every mother received one of the quilts for their little one, to take home.
We all enjoy making them. Westmead has suggested a special project for us to do after our Show. It should be fun and we are looking forward to it.

Now for Show and Tell:

Pamela R. works with the most beautiful materials. Pam then often uses the leftovers to make quilts for our Community. This one above is particularly lush.

Ellen's friend of a friend donated this patchwork quilt for our Community stash.  Many thanks.

Above, a silky quilt from, Pamela R. Lovely golden colours. I think we are going to call it "Sunshine".

Hayley had pieced the semi circles and then couldn't decide how to go further. She gave the pieces to our industrious Blue Group who turned it into this stunning quilt.

 Now for three baby quilts from Carolyn - one above and two below. Carolyn says she still has not made a dent in her stash.
We are very happy to receive them for Westmead.

Below, my husband has very cheekily replaced one of the dogs with a photo of our new puppy - top row, third from left! He is very cute and growing fast.

Lindy also had a couple of baby quilts for us. I have shown the fronts and backs below. Both are very pretty.

And another one from Carolyn below.

Until next week ....

Glimpse of Waggas for sale at Show

Hello Everyone,

Here is this week's update from our meeting on Thursday.

As you know, the first Thursday of each month is Community Day. Our hall was very busy with girls making quilt tops for the various charities we support. Gil and Grace were working on Waggas that will be sold at our Show in August. There are some photos below to tempt you.

Moina had been cleaning out her cupboards and brought in a bagful of braids, embroideries, laces, threaded beads and beautiful pieces of velvet and felt, the quality of which we do not find nowadays unfortunately. Many of these 'goodies' were snapped up for various projects. It was a wonderful assortment.

Robyn J. had made extra green tablecloths that we use for our show and other functions. Narelle was particularly delighted as we now have a full supply. A big thank you to Robyn.

QuiltNSW Show:

The QuiltNSW Show will be on at Darling Harbour from 20-24 June. Hunters Hill quilters will have a stand at the show on Friday 22 June. If you are at the show on the Friday, please pop around to our Display Space to have a chat. We would love to see you.

Show and Tell:

Gil has made this Wagga from beautiful, quality fabric pieces. It has been hand tied which results in a very soft Wagga.

A couple of baby quilts from Narelle, using some scraps from Carolyn's stash.

A Wagga that was quilted by Helena and the centres made by Joy.

 Quilting details of other Waggas that will be for sale above and below.

Two more baby quilts from Narelle.

Show Meeting and Raffle Tickets

Hi Everyone,

Retreat: 

Highlights from our retreat weekend at Kurri Kurri were given. I had an email from Desley Gossip who is in charge at the TAFE. She said a number of her staff had remarked 'how lovely our ladies were' which was very nice to hear.
I do encourage any members who have not been to a retreat to give it some thought for next year. It is a great way of getting to know each other in a relaxed setting and you get LOTS of sewing done!

Show Meeting:

The plans for our Show in August are well in hand. All members are expected to come to the Opening Night. It is a very happy evening. We dress up and enjoy showing family members our talents and skills.
Everyone brings a plate of snack food to share. Visitors are often hungry as they sometimes come straight from work and skip dinner.
Narelle is planning the rosters for us all to contribute and these will be put out soon.

Fliers for our show are in the cupboard if you are  able to distribute some among your friends.

Space at Quilt NSW Guild Show:

We have been lucky enough to be allotted a space at the Guild/Craft Show on Friday 22 June. This helps publicise our group and our show. Last time many visitors stopped by to chat and look at the quilts we had on display. If any of you can spare a couple of hours to help it would be appreciated. You can also then wander around the show itself. I am sure you will find lots to buy.

Donation:

A friend of Val's has generously donated 4 completed quilts and 9 tops to be finished. Thank you Verity.

Show and Tell:

Above and below,  Robyn has made three baby quilts for Westmead.

June was unable to come to our retreat this year so she had her very own retreat at home. Her wonderful husband looked after her with food treats and special dinners so June could spend all her time sewing. The results are fantastic! June's 4 baby quilts are below.

At our retreat, Helena machine quilted the Wagga above to be sold at our show. It took quite a bit of time but an excellent result. It is difficult to show all the detail in the photo but if you look closely you can see some of it.

This lovely blue quilt was finished by June at her 'special home' retreat. June donated it to our Community quilts. Iris will find a worthy home for it.

Iris asked us to bring along any 'orphan' blocks that we had made and never used to the retreat. Lots of blocks arrived!
I don't know how Iris did it but she worked on it and gradually put the differing blocks together to make this terrific quilt.
What a talent!

Until next week....

A Special Peek at items for Show

Hello Everyone,

A couple of general items to start this week.

Felicity is still in hospital after having a fall there. The fall has broken a part of her lower back unfortunately. She has asked Suzie L. to let you all know. I will send her a card and some news to hopefully cheer her up a little.

Iris and Meg attended an evening for the Hornsby Kuring-gai Womens Shelter last week. This is one of the Charities we are supporting this year. They were able to talk to people about our group and our show.

One of the quilts entered in the Northbridge Quilt Show last weekend was made by Pam Clifford. Pam is a former member of our group. Pam proudly had attached her first place ribbon from an earlier Hunters Hill Quilt Show to it. Many of our members remember Pam.

Our Retreat this weekend:

22 of our members drove to Kurri Kurri near Maitland this weekend for our annual retreat. We all had a great time. The venue is excellent and the staff were very obliging and helpful.

It was a treat to have Hayley and Helen's daughter Suzie M. join us. It was an extremely productive sewing weekend.

Iris asked us to bring our orphan blocks - and there were a lot of them! Iris proceeded to turn them into a quilt for Community. I don't know how she does it but the result is amazing. I have a photo of it partly finished below.

Some worked on their Show quilts, others on Community quilts and items we will sell at the Show.

We had a lot of fun too. Heather suggested a Lucky Door prize and provided the gift. Grace won.
We had a game of Finska. A very noisy game and I think Akiko and I won that thanks to Akiko's winning shot!
There was a Trivia quiz too. There was much mumbling about the questions but I think it was fun.

Show and Tell:

A few of you have seen Elva working on this Panda quilt. Elva will be giving the quilt to a teacher friend of hers on Thursday. Hence she won't be joining us this week. I just love the way the pandas pop up and look at you. It is so cute. What a special gift for your friend Elva.

Helen finished this quilt at the retreat. Helen used old jeans and bits of denim to make this. A wonderful achievement Helen.

This wagga was made from scratch at the retreat. Grace had Kerry and I working like maniacs to keep up with her. Helena stitched the blocks together and was our time keeper. Kerry and I complained but secretly enjoyed doing it!

This is part of Iris's masterpiece from some of the orphan blocks. Amazing!

Here we have a peek at some of the items Suzie L. has made to sell at our show. These are chicken doorstops - all with extremely clever names. You will have to be early to pick one up at the show. They are just gorgeous.

A view of our very large sewing room at Kurri Kurri. We each had a lot of space and the light was perfect.

Apologies for this not very good photo, but this is part of Suzie M.'s Carnival quilt for her daughter. The details and colours really stand out. Suzie's daughter is very lucky.

The Kurri Kurri campus has about 200 kangaroos that roam the site. I caught a photo of this Mum with her joey that popped its head out to look at me. So cute. The Mum gave me a wary look though.

Last but not least, a quilt from Hayley. All the pieces are in place ready for applique. A daunting task! The colours do look very good.

Until next week .....

Royal Wedding and Retreat

Hello Everyone,

There is not a great deal to report this week.

Perhaps like me, you spent most of Saturday evening watching the Royal Wedding. It was a beautiful day in London. It would have been an experience to have been in London at the time.

This week we spoke about Grace and Gil's Wagga presentation for the NSW Guild study group. It was a huge success. We sold some raffle tickets for our show and handed out fliers.

During our retreat next weekend, Grace and Gil will be working on Waggas to sell at the show. I am sure offers of help will not go astray.

I have emailed directions and details for the retreat to those who are going. Upon arrival at the TAFE, park in the car park and go into the main building to Reception. From there you will be guided to your accommodation. It should be a fun weekend.

Show and Tell:

Grace has put the top together from the pink triangles that we all supplied. I am always amazed how these blocks go together so well. The quilt now needs finishing and will sent to the Dragon Boat people to be raffled.

This is one of the Waggas displayed at Grace's talk. Marie K. made it a while ago. It has been washed in the washing machine and thrown in the car boot and still looks brand new. Waggas are so versatile, warm and useful.

News of the retreat for next week's post.

Until then .....

Show Challenge Display

Hello Everyone,

I am a little late this week with the blog. It has been a hectic weekend.
I hope you all had a happy Mothers Day yesterday.

There are some members travelling at the moment so greetings to Sue D and Lindy. Also Hi to Hayley and others who can't come to regular meetings. Checking the blog is a good way to catch up with what has been going on with the group.

37 Sensory mats for our Show Challenge were displayed around the room on Thursday. They were all different and very colourful. Grace awarded prizes for various categories such as the most elegant, the friendliest, the most tactile, the one with the most fringe, the fiddliest, the clever idea. etc etc. It was great fun.
Grace awarded the winners with a Lindt chocolate each wrapped beautifully in a square of reusable fabric and tied with a pretty ribbon. Wonderful!

A number of girls admitted that they were bringing quite a few orphan blocks to our retreat for us all to work on. I am looking forward to seeing what we come up with.

I attended Grace and Gil's presentation of Waggas for the NSW Guild on Saturday afternoon. Many  ladies came to hear about the history of the Wagga and how the name originated.  Books and Waggas were passed around for everyone to look at.
There is a lot of interest in the Waggas and Grace showed a number of them. I have a couple of photos below.
The weather in Sydney on Saturday was cold and very windy with a strong Southerly blowing. A perfect afternoon to cuddle up with a Wagga.

We had fliers for our show on the table and a number were taken. We also sold $92 worth of raffle tickets. The sales were thanks to Gil and Grace's friend Anne who did a wonderful job selling them for us.

Show and  Tell:

First up is from Narelle. We were interested to see how Narelle had made the blocks. Narelle made the 'tulip' shapes and then added the square.
So colourful and pretty. A happy quilt. I have added a couple off close-ups below for you to see.

Next we have a jumble of some of the Sensory mats to show you how terrific they look. The last jumble caught my husband's eye and he really liked the colours.

This photo is  Grace showing the 'Fox' Wagga. This pattern is very popular and drew quite a few 'ums and ahs' of approval from the audience. It is quite stunning.

The Wagga below belongs to Kathy Doughty from Material Obsession. It is made from Vinnies' blankets and cleverly appliqued and pieced by Kathy.

So no excuses! Go to your local thrift shop for old woollen blankets and offcuts and get sewing a Wagga. Winter is the best time of year to make one.

Until next week .....

A Busy Community Day

Hello Everyone,

 Bits and pieces for you today from our Thursday meeting and a couple of quilting hints that may be useful.

First  -  mats for our Show Challenge are due next week. Small Prizes will be awarded for various categories - ugliest, funniest, prettiest etc.

Second - Please think about making quilts to sell at the show. No big big quilts though.
Standard cot size, single bed and double bed. Also lap quilts are popular with the cooler weather.
Remember though that 15% commission is taken from the sale price towards costs and the charities we are supporting.

It was Community Day and all our groups were busy sewing and planning quilts for our stash.

As is habit with many groups, we all tend to sit with the same people every week. Hence we have been divided roughly into Colours.

The RED GROUP have been given a quilt top that had been started but not finished.  Our group had a big discussion about what to do with it and how to finish it.
Sheila had also finished the backing of another quilt we have been making for Community.
We will pin it together next week ready for machine quilting.

The BLUE GROUP is always very busy. They were working on two quilt tops, finishing binding and sewing on labels.

The ORANGE GROUP had two machines working hard. All heads down and charging ahead.

The GREEN GROUP were also finishing off a pretty quilt they had designed.

I didn't catch up with the other groups but will keep tabs on them for next Community Day.

QUILTING HINTS:

I went to a talk on Friday which was very enjoyable.

1.  BINDING: When you bind a quilt, apparently it is a good idea to finish the four corners first. Then go back and finish the bits in between.This helps to keep the quilt flat.
A flat quilt is especially important if your quilt is to be entered into a show and be judged.

2.  CUTTING: One lady who does a lot of cutting, mentioned that she had been using a Titanium cutting blade.
She has been using the same blade since December last year and it is still sharp.
Apparently Spotlight sells them so it may be worth a try.

OTHER GROUPS:

Quiltsmith is closing soon and is to become an online store. The owner does not have room to store a lot of the fabric and books that are in the shop. So hurry along and pick up a bargain.
They have a big range of quilting books which are always useful.

QuiltNSW is looking for volunteers for the Saturday and Sunday of their show in June. It is mainly 'white glove' work. This enables you to have a good look at all the quilts and chat to and meet other quilters. You will also receive a special badge and morning tea after the show.

Show and Tell:

A nine patch from me made from leftovers for a bigger cot quilt I made for a friend. This is for the Grace Centre.

Also for the Grace Centre from Jenny.  Jenny and I did an Improv Class on Tuesday.  I knew Jenny would finish the quilt for our Thursday meeting.  I was going to compete but  I had no chance!
This is a fun way to make blocks.  It is similar to Gwen Marston's Wonky blocks idea. Gwen's attitude is -'if it is too big, cut it off. If too small, add it on.'
Not for the Traditionalist quilters but fun to do.

Also for the Grace Centre from Karen. This looks amazing and three dimensional.

Another baby quilt from Jenny. The pattern is a square within a square within a square. Jenny did explain how to do it but I lost track after the first two squares. An idea for a workshop I feel.

A stunning Community quilt from Karen. Thank you Karen.

Until next week......